!nsp!re – China Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival

Located in Harbin, China (which gets it’s weather from Siberia) the festival typically opens each January and runs for one month. Given how long the winters last, the sculptures generally stay up for a few months.

Ice Festival – Day

“Sculpture” is perhaps an understatement, given the size and scale of some of the structures. This is an enormous undertaking, clearly.

Ice Festival at Night

When the Songhua River freezes over, workers begin to carve out sections and transport them to the site. There, ice sculptors use a variety of saws, picks, and chisels to create these fantastical shapes.

Some are smaller and delicate, like the one pictured above. Others are gargantuan, like this one:

Sculptures and structures of all shapes and sizes dot the landscape, all internally lit, emitting an ephemeral glow at night.

I’m fascinated by both the artistry and the effort. This not only takes a massive amount of creativity but a herculean effort to build all of this.

Ice Festival at Night

To see more images and learn more about the festival, visit their official site here.